Laura Ashley paint quality?

I want to paint my lounge in Laura Ashley Pale Dove Grey, but have read poor reviews of L.A. paints before so went to get it colour matched in B&Q. Unfortunately even after 2 attempts of making up colour matched tester pots, I can still see the difference in colour from the original, even though they assure me it's over 99% accurate! :/ Could anyone let me know if they have used L.A. paints before, and how they found it? Reviews I have read online describe it as streaky, patchy, too thin, poor quality, and that it marks easily.

Comments (29)

I have Laura Ashley paint in the living room, hall, stairs, landing, main bedroom and en-suite, no problem at all, the decorator did the job and it looks excellent, I'm sure he would have said something if he didn't like it. It has been in the hall, stairs, landing and living room for two years now and still looks fresh. The bedroom and bathroom were done about a year ago and also look good, I used the bathroom paint in Dove Grey (from memory) and the bedroom has the same colour behind my bed, with white everywhere else, which was standard paint supplied by the decorator, all fine.

Thanks for your reply. I have read a few good reviews as well, just the majority were bad for some reason! I have till the end of January until their sale ends so I need to decide by then... any other opinions? :)

I've used it before in a couple of rooms and it was fine however my mum is currently painting her bedroom in LA and has found coverage to be poor. I didn't find that it marked more easily than any other paint. I would suggest getting a Dulux trade paint which is far superior to their normal range. My favourite paint is Little Greene but it isn't particularly cheap..

I agree Matt. I'm a trading decorator as well. I've recently used Laura Ashley "fine quality paint" and found it to be very patchy. Randomly different shades maybe depending on the thickness or direction of bush strokes - I couldn't figure it out. The transition between cut in brushwork and roller edges stands out a mile off. Just plain weird and horrible paint to use. My client used Homebase own brand emulsion for the rest of her house and amazingly it looks much better.

Unfortunately, LA paint suffers from a kind of boutique brand snobbery the same as others like F&B or Little Green, which means it's twice the price for pretty average quality. And LA insist that you simply *must* have the specific tin of paint to compliment the wallpaper or sofa they just sold you, which is rubbish because the Dulux Decorator Centre will match any colour with a reliable quality product.

I took time to comment here because I am so annoyed by the product, which smacks of the "I Saw You Coming" style of marketing. If you ever saw Harry Enfield's last series you'l know what I'm talking about!

Oh and one final note. The Dulux paint I'm talking about is the TRADE range, which itself is a superior product to the "retail" tins you buy off the shelf at Homebase. Dulux are far from innocent in this respect, but the frequent BOGOF anf BOGOHP offers in the DIY stores often make these cans hard to resist.

I have LA pale dove grey in my bathroom. The painter said it was lovely paint to use. In my other rooms I've got craig and rose pale mortlake cream which is only a bit dearer than standard dulux/crown (but similar price wise to their heritage ranges) and find it streets ahead quality wise. Especially their eggshell which is a dream to paint with.

It's rubbish!! My decorator says it's the worst paint he's ever used. Pale French grey has very poor coverage. It's streaky where it has been cut in and has been painted over four times. I have had to paint match in B&Q with Valspars equivalent to go over it and it's covered it perfectly. Im in the process of trying to get a refund for 3 tins of Laura Ashley paint.

Yes Laura Ashley paint rubbish my decorator has used 3 tins of pale charcoal and it still hasn't covered . It's streaky and a different colour cutting in to the roller so I'm now having to try and find a similar colour in a different brand . I'm out of pocket as I will have to pay the decorator for another days work .

Utter rubbish paint from Laura Ashley. I was given a gift card as a goodwill gesture but they wouldn't admit the paint was inferior quality! Do not buy, if you like a particular shade get it matched in B&Q or Leyland paints.Hope this helps people not to waste time and money.

I purchased 2 x tins dove grey emulsion recently to paint my bedroom. It was very patchy especially where I had cut in. Laura Ashley shop referred me to Customer Service. This has got to be the worst customer service I have ever experienced. They just don't listen. I sent photographs and asked for a refund on just the one tin. After several weeks, and more phone calls, eventually was told there was nothing they could do. So annoyed. This paint is not cheap! I was told I had probably over painted or not checked the batch numbers matched on the tins (although had only used 1 tin at the time). the fact no-one was in touch until I rang them was annoying. They made me feel like a liar. I have bought a lot of items from Laura Ashley over the years - they should take lessons from John Lewis!

It's weird but I've (touch wood) had no problems with LA dove grey in the bedroom. Of course I got mine free as leftovers from mum and dad's kitchen and also had the advantage of a similar wall colour beneath.

On another note - b & Q own brand is rubbish. Find a dulux trade place near you - they do colour matching and the staff at ours were so helpful about which we shoild go for (not exact match to wallpaper) and painted sample cards for us for free. Paint was good quality too

Glad I'm not the only person who has had no problems with Laura Ashley paint! Mind you, I would have been very annoyed about the customer service if there had been a problem. I know many years ago (over 35 years I should think) a friend had a problem with LA wallpaper and the company at that time replaced it and paid towards a professional decorator to put it up, as it had been a diy job previously, excellent service, so they haven't always been poor at responding to problems.

I too am really pleased with my Laura Ashley paint. Whilst I'm not a professional decorator , I have always done all my own decorating and tried all brands over the years. I think their paint coverage is as good as Dulux trade, the finish is really flat. I used pale Twine for a large living room , looks perfect!Always buy when on offer though, would never pay full rrp for their paints!

That's terrible - take it up with LA and get your money back -it seems from the comments here that its the grey paints that seem to be the problem ... no paint should ever leave a wall looking like that - assuming the wall has been primed and prepped properly then they have to compensate you. Good luck!

Just painted a feature wall with laura Ashley paint bad choice as the paint is so streaky. when using a roller its a totally different colour to the edges that have been painted with a brush. Very disappointed would never use this again.

I'd like to add that grey emulsions do seem to present problems with the cutting in drying a different shade to the rolled area. This can simply be the difference in texture which catches the light in different ways. The best way to avoid or minimise this is to "keep a wet edge" so you would cut in a meter or so and then roll it and continue in this way across the wall rolling as close to the edge as possible. If the paint is quite a thick consistency thin it a little to help the flow and minimise brush marks and roller stipple.

I am amazed so many people seem to have problems with Laura Ashley paint, I am wondering if I have just been lucky with mine. I asked my decorator if he had found any problems with it and he confirmed he hadn't, but he did say he always stirs his paint well before he uses it, so, perhaps this is something to remember when starting to use any paint, but perhaps, as I have said, I have just been lucky, anyway, I am shortly going to buy 30+litres of the pale twine and freshen up my hall, stairs and landing, so, fingers crossed all will be well again.

I used Pale Dove Grey before and it was lovely. Now wanting a stronger colour and tried LA's Dark Duck Egg and it was AWFUL. That's just the sample pot. Liked the colour, though. Tried Crown's Heritage Classic Duck Egg and it proved a perfect match AND covered better.

Seems to depend on the colour, Berry is terrible, 2.5 litres to do 2 average walls and a very clear shade difference between where it was rollered and cut in with a brush, 1 out of 10. Sapphire is better but it still it is very hard to get total coverage even with 2 coats, the cutting in does not look as obvious so I was happy with that. Just tried the Colourcourage range at B&Q, great colours, nice to work with and an entire bedroom done with 2.5 litres and some to spare, 10 out of 10. Used F&B as well, some colours are great, others are shocking, Card Room Red to three Coates to get full coverage, not acceptable.

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